EuroBusiness Media (EBM): Atari, a global creator, publisher and producer of interactive entertainment, has appointed a new CEO. The Company also announces that it is launching a €50 million warrants issue. Jeffrey Lapin, welcome.
Jeffrey Lapin (JL): Thank you Adrian, great to be here.
EBM: You’re the newly appointed CEO of Atari. Perhaps you could begin by telling us a bit about yourself and your credentials as an executive in the video games industry.
JL: Of course. First, I want to say I’m not new to Atari. I’ve been at Atari, on the Board, for the past two years, and I’ve been the Chief Operating Officer since April of this year. So I’m very involved and knowledgeable about the company. So I’m not exactly new.
Before that I spent 20 years at several companies, mostly public, and at least half of that time I was with gaming and entertainment companies. I was the COO of THQ, I was the CEO of Take-Two Interactive Software, I was with the House of Blues, I was with a French company called IN-FUSIO – all in the gaming and entertainment area.
EBM: What can you tell us today about the Company’s strategy? Is there anything new to report? Is the Company fully recovered?
JL: I would say it’s fair to say that the Company is in a stable position today. And we hope to turn that stability into growth. As far as our strategy, we’ll continue to exploit our cadre of intellectual properties (IP), of which we have many. After all, Atari was the first company that made video games, and introduced Pond to the industry. We have hundreds of IP’s, and we intend to exploit those IP’s both in the traditional boxed games that you buy at retail and in the faster growing segment of online gaming.
EBM: What are your views on the current state of your industry today?
JL: Honestly, it’s a challenging environment. I just read on the airplane coming over here that November sales in the United States were down a few percentage points, and all the analysts had predicted that they’d be up. So I think it’s a reflection of the retail environment, the recessionary environment. But again, gaming is a $10 billion plus industry with tremendous growth potential, especially in the online world. And with Atari’s intellectual properties, we’re well positioned to take advantage of the various online segments, including MMO’s, casual MMO’s, and casual games.
EBM: Coming to today’s news announcement about the Company’s €50 million warrants issue, what does this mean for the Company and its finances?
JL: The primary purpose of the rights offering is to strengthen our balance sheet and to improve the shareholders’ equity in the Company. If the offering is successful and more money is raised, we will also use the money to enhance our publishing plan that will give us more flexibility to do more things and create more games.
EBM: And lastly, what is your outlook and forecast for the Company?
JL: The only forecast we’ve given to the market is for H2 of this fiscal year, in which we said that COI will be neutral to slightly negative before extraordinary items. But the future holds great things for Atari. We’re coming out with Star Trek online in February, which we hope will be a big MMO game. Star Trek has had a resurgence because of the recent movie, and there’s another movie coming out, I believe, next year. So we hope that that will be a big game. There’s a lot of Star Trek fans around the world. We also have a variety of other games planned in the next 12 months, including the backyard series and Project Runway, which is a big IP in the United States. And we’re working on several other things – for example, continuing to exploit Atari online and put up all of our old games for everybody to play online. So we’re looking forward to a great year.
EBM: Jeffrey Lapin, newly appointed CEO of Atari, thank you very much.
JL: Thank you Adrian, it’s been a pleasure.
